Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 7, 2026

Necropsy-based Wild Fish Health Assessment
Published on: September 11, 2018
Sea otter health: Challenging a pet hypothesis
1U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Abstract:
A recent series of studies on tagged sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) challenges the hypothesis that sea otters are sentinels of a dirty ocean, in particular, that pet cats are the main source of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii in central California. Counter to expectations, sea otters from unpopulated stretches of coastline are less healthy and more exposed to parasites than city-associated otters. Ironically, now it seems that spillover from wildlife, not pets, dominates spatial patterns of disease transmission.
Related Concept Videos
Keystone Species
Osmoregulation in Fishes
Conservation of Small Populations

